56 Up

56 Up - hard to believe. I've watched 3 or 4 of these over my 53 years, and each one becomes harder for me to watch as I get older. I was suddenly a little scared when the titles for this one started; I almost walked out of the theater. What has become of this group of kids that director Apted has been following since he was 22 years old? What new tragedies had befallen them? Whatever became of the homeless guy? Would any of them finally blow up at Apted on-camera?

Probably the most unnerving thing for me was that the film would just be unbearably poignant. It seems almost god-like to be able to see how a group of 14 people's lives have progressed over a 49-year period. (Yet, as one of the men complains, viewers can't possibly know these people, even though many in Britain presume to (since this was shown on TV there, many British people have watched all 8 films).

Fortunately, however, the film isn't overly sentimental or maudlin. Still, the film is very touching and can't help but make you think about your own life and trials, what advantages you may or may not have had compared to these people, and how you would have fared given their circumstances.

One of the sadder aspects of these films is to see how life seems to have "beaten down" so many of these people. Some of the kids with bright, shiny eyes who seemed to have so much energy and hope now seem to be dejected and defeated adults. Yet this isn't true for all of them - some of the reserved, quiet kids turned out to be reserved, quiet adults. And it's not all sad - there are some good laughs and some inspiring successes. And two subjects who had dropped out returned for this segment - one to promote his band!

There are plenty of clips from earlier segments, so you don't need to rent any of the earlier ones, but I'd recommend it. You get a more profound sense of the flow of their lives by seeing at least one other one. But whatever you do, see this one.

Peter is back! (He hasn't appeared since 28 Up) I know he's here in some large part to promote his band, but I'd rather have something like that where it's more creative and artistic than when John appeared in 35 just to promote his wife's charity (gosh that felt like the closest this series got to a minor scandal haha). The other great surprise here is Suzanne and Nick together (not romantically but still!) That was really wonderful to see them come together for this, and such lively and candid conversation.

Perhaps it can't be helped by the time you get to the eighth of these films, but there is so much Archival footage by this point from the previous entries that it probably does weigh the new scenes by like 40/60. That is a fairly minor complaint though given the scope of how life's changes are now about the next generations and the younger subjects do a lot to emphasize what is the same/different about the men and women who are still taking part in this (and all but like one or two are still here).

I'm also struck by something Michael Apted said to Roger Ebert in an interview back in 2006 around the time of 49 Up, which is that politics, or just points of view when it comes to how life itself and relationships have political dimensions, come out in the choices that are made about what to do with a life, financially speaking and also with a life in work or retirement (or in Jackie's case on disability).

The financial crash of 2008 also still hangs over at least a couple of the participants, and there is a comment (though think about how much Apted chose to show or leave out) about how far to the right the country has gone in the years since the 60s and 70s and you can see how a framework that keeps people working, keeps people in a system (or who are still doing manual labor like Symon) and then those who can break free of those systems make this really engaging. Even Andrew talking about global warming, though what's great is that this doesn't come with Apted pushing some agenda or something. The reality of what everyone is dealing with speaks for itself (and there's a revelation about John that... how did we not know this till now?! Dead parent!)

What's so special about these films is how much Apted has direct and simple questions that have to do with what being 56 is like, and in the scope of the series up until this point and how the personal and larger macro sense of what this series has meant is in a deeper philosophical sense. 56 Up isn't quite my favorite entry in the Ups, but that's more of a personal quibble (I also kind of wish Apted had kept to the sort of structure of who he was presenting since he stuck to showing like Tony first and Neil last and now it's sort of reversed for seemingly no good reason), but it need not matter much when the interviews are still so revealing and frank and Apted keep it being this great thoughtful gift for the audience intact.

My reaction to Peter, in other words, seems like I am reacting to a return of a comic book character in a Marvel movie, but that's the level of intimate connection that the series has done so well.

I saw this documentary spread out over three episodes on SBS TV over here. Perhaps it is the new medium which makes me think that this latest installment is the best in the series. Somehow it seems more lucid and to the point. Given that my memory of the cinema released earlier installments of this series isn't fresh, I'll just have to take on trust that this superiority in quality is real and not imagined. It's my impression that the organisation of these subjects' stories is more logically presented in any case. It just coheres better.

Being the 8th instalment in this series, you have to wonder if the 'experiment' has run its course...it must surely have 'proven' what it set out to achieve...to determine how class effects people's life chances in England. These subjects are now 56 years old (obviously) and we already know how their life unfolded...many movies ago. The director of this series, Michael Apted, is also getting on in years and you have to wonder if he will be around in another seven years to do another one of these documentaries...or if his health will be sufficient.

Each episode I saw of 56 Up on SBS had 3 or 4 subjects the featured people of that episode (I saw this documentary late last year, so it's not fresh in my memory...going on notes here). I did in fact wonder whether I had missed a previous movie in this series (which I'm not sure is the case) because at least one of the subjects did not ring a bell for me (looking at the Wikipedia entry for the "56 Up", I think that that may in fact have been Peter). However, the series is notorious for various subjects not turning up in a later movie, in seven years time (some subjects I think have never reappeared after 14 Up). If there were subjects from 7 Up missing, they were not mentioned, unfortunately (a mention of their last appearance and the reason/s given for them refusing to participate in future documentaries would have been good). Since each new documentary often recaps the subject's appearance in some/all previous "Up" documentaries, it's not strictly necessary to watch them all in order...but it might be nice to check out where it all began, "7 Up" (the concept for the series being the old Jesuit saying "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man". The idea being that these formative first seven years will determine the adult).

Some things which interested me:

* If there was any reason to have another instalment in this series, for me it would be to find out how Jackie fares...in 56 Up she has rheumatoid arthritis and gets dropped from a social security benefit on the basis that she can still work. Like a soap opera, I want to know "What happens to her?". In this documentary she is relying on financial assistance from her son, I think.

* Director/interviewer Michael Apted is more the centre of attention in this episode at times...he wonders aloud to Tony if he (Tony) is racist. Tony doesn't like that one bit!

* John, a barrister, makes a good point about the series portraying his success as an inevitable part of his background (i.e. class) but he does make a good point about how fragile his background was and how his life could have crashed around him had it not been for his mother's perseverance. Such contextual information was not presented in the earlier documentaries, which suggests that the series was ignoring counter-factual evidence to its premise that class determines life outcomes.

* Sue was an interesting case. By Australian standards, her rise to being an administrator at a university would suggest social mobility. She has working class roots, I think. The way that Sue describes it, she is not doing so well. I'm curious as to whether this is indicative of the squeeze on the middle class these last few years or merely her spending habits. I'm pretty sure that someone in her position over here would be considered middle class, at least...upper middle class, in fact. I'm not suggesting that she is a spendthrift...I have no idea...just wondering if it is a possibility though...as in she thinks she is poor because she is a consumerist.

* Suzy is also interesting in this documentary, from memory. I think it is her who tells Apted that she feels a certain perverse sense of loyalty to the series...like it's a potboiler, but she feels a sense of duty to it, or something like that. In other words, she doesn't feel as if the "Up" series is some sort of important social documentary.

* The "Up" series has a musical sting (very dramatic brass riff) which reminds me of the Australian TV police drama "Homicide".

* Just btb, I was curious about a scene they included from "7 Up"...I think it involved Bruce...at the party, I think, or maybe the playground...it almost looks like he takes out another boy's eye (almost!)...or perhaps he was the victim. Looked dangerous in any case!

* I wasn't sure if all of Jackie's friends from 7 Up were in this documentary and I suspect that the more casual boy who was friends with John and his fellow 'posh' subjects was missing from this latest instalment too.

* Peter's return seems to be merely to promote his band! Apparently they are quite successful in their own way in England. It's this guy who I don't think I knew who the Hell he was!

The gang is back under the directions of Michael Apted. They are now closing in on old age. Everybody is looking back rather than looking forward. Sure they look forward for their kids, but not anymore for themselves. Peter has finally return to the series, but it's only a taste. He's only giving the highlights but mostly he wants to promote his band. He still isn't completely open especially about his first marriage. That is still better than Charles who is still absent.

The question is starting to creep in on what will happen to this series if one of them pass or maybe if Michael Apted pass. This raises the question of what the future episode will look like. It will probably feel like talking to my parents and the older generations about their aches and pains. Everybody will be comparing their medical health. The part I want to see now is Michael Apted on camera. He's getting up there in age and it would be nice to see the group talk to him as an equal before it's too late.

The Up Series (1963 - 2012 Granada UK) continues "56 Up" (2012 Granada UK) is the latest episode in the series and was aired in the UK on May 14, 2012.

Home video DVD's are not yet available for "56 Up" (2012 Granada 2012) from Amazon.Com. It seems there is a delay from the time the newest episode is first aired/ released in the UK and when the USA sees and may purchase it.)

For me, the two most remarkable and worthy persons profiled are Neil Hughes and Bruce Balden, neither married or materially "successful" by the 1991 "35 Up" episode, both badgered about that on camera by the off camera interviewer, both stoic and dignified in the face of the negative evaluation the interviewer provides.

Neither man, Hughes or Balden, led conventional, predictable, profitable, "safe" lives. Both opted for exploration, adventure, and service to and comradeship with socially unprestigious groups and persons.

Both took enormous chances, and must be accounted brave, noble men for that alone. They didn't "play it safe." Both exude an intelligence and a willingness to discuss difficult questions and issues in detail on camera, and neither attack the show they appear on, the thoughtless, implicitly insulting interviewer, or the show's and interviewer's obvious prejudices and agenda for the show itself as a piece of social and political propaganda.

Balden and Hughes use the riveting show as a platform to describe their own lives, ideals, and activities in pursuit of those ideals, activities not supported by outside big money or generous support from family, government, or other sources.

We learn more about the world at the times the episodes are presented (every 7 years starting in 1963.....the most recent one in 2004) from observing and listening to the words and ideas of Bruce Balden and Neil Hughes by far than is true of the other children and adults presented, none of whom departed from the settings where they first appeared at age 7 in 1963.

Neil Hughes and his "marching to the beat of the different drummer" (quote from Americn Utopian writer Henry David Thoreau) seems to me the most impressive of all.

He's become the intrepid explorer he announced he'd be at age 7 when he expressed interest in being an Astronaut or a bus driver....two flavors of explorers.

I'm reminded of the words of poet T. S. Eliot (1888 USA - 1965 UK), the USA born poet who settled in England and got the Nobel Prize in 1948.

He wrote a poem titled East Coker, and words from it include the following:

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"To arrive where you are, to get from where you are not, You must go by a way wherein there is no ecstasy.

In order to arrive at what you do not know You must go by a way which is the way of ignorance.

In order to possess what you do not possess You must go by the way of dispossession.

In order to arrive at what you are not You must go through the way in which you are not.

And what you do not know is the only thing you know

And what you own is what you do not own

And where you are is where you are not.

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"Home is where one starts from. As we grow older The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated ------------

"Old men ought to be explorers........"

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Everybody should be an explorer, not just old men.

Neil Hughes purposed to be an explorer at age 7, started early, still does it. He could be the star of a long run reality TV Show titled "King Of The Road" using the famous Roger Miller hit song of that title from the 1960's, and his views about dealing with and surviving in spite of unsupportive, unintelligent government and present social organization and conventions in the UK, the USA, Australia, and elsewhere could be solicited and published, his lifestyle and behavior widely (and proudly) imitated.

This may all seem far-fetched (see the Academy Award Winner movie titled Network [1976] to see how big media could set this up....no joke!), but the fact is Neil Hughes has probably learned more about the realities of survival and the likely challenges and problems upcoming which must be survived successfully than most people.

People won't get the truth about big issues they face from the government, big religion, or the conventional commercial mass media, nor will big establishment educational systems either provide answers nor seek them.

Neil Hughes knows what others need to know, and is clearly independent enough to share what he knows, able to survive being despised for his independent and necessarily implicitly critical views.

It's an interesting show, and less spectacular careers and worlds of the children/ adults who traveled different, more predictable and conventional paths than Bruce Balden and Neil Hughes are worth noting and following.

The Up Series (1963 - 2012) is a happy accident, the truth provided by the commercial mass media in ways almost never experienced.

BTW, see the excellent interview with director/ producer Michael Apted (1941 UK - ) done by USA Movie Critic of fame Roger Ebert in the "Special Features" section of "49 Up [2005)." Ebert praises the show to the skies.

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Written by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA movie actor, Columbia PA USA

Email Tex Allen at TexAllen@Rocketmail.Com

See Tes Allen Movie Credits, Biography, and 2012 photos at WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen. See other Tex Allen written movie reviews....almost 100 titles.... at: "http://imdb.com/user/ur15279309/comments" (paste this address into your URL Browser)